1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for processing fishes for the manufacture of canned or long time storagable food stuff in connection with the fishes.
2. Prior Art of the Invention
For canning or long time storaging the food stuffs of fishes, the fishes are usually processed by having removed therefrom the head parts, the tails, the skins, the bones, the internal organs, blood, etc. and the obtained fish meats are heated to coagulate the protein components thereof and then cooled to harden the connective tissues of the fish meats.
For this purpose, heretofore the dressed fish bodies, which were prepared by cutting off the head parts and removing internal organs, have been processed by steps including juxtaposing the dressed bodies in steaming baskets, heating the dressed fish bodies in the steaming baskets by steam flow at a temperature of 100.degree. to 104.degree. C for 60 to 200 minutes, cooling the dressed fish bodies at room temperature for about 24 hours, slicing the dressed fish bodies into three parts, namely the upper meat part, the lower meat part and the central vertebral part which was sliced as thin as possible to contain the central vertebra to minimize the weight of the meat attached to the central vertebra, and pealing off the skins and the meats of bloody color, from the upper and lower meat parts, and the processed meat has been used as canning food stuffs. However, this process has some faults as described below:
(1) As the dressed fish bodies are spindle-shaped when they are boiled and are enveloped in their skin and fatty layer, they must be boiled for a long time at a relatively high temperature to coagulate the proteinous component thereof, with the result that a considerable quantity of heat energy and time are required for this process, fish meats near the skin are detoriated by excessive heating, yield of fish meat is considerably lowered by excessive dehydration, and moreover the temperature difference between the central part and the surface part of the dressed fish bodies differ the coagulation degree of the extract meat and proteinous component of the dressed fish bodies between the two with resultant non-uniform shrinkage in the fish meat whereby the dressed fish bodies are apt to be cracked.
(2) As the dressed fish bodies, prepared by removing the head parts and the inner organs therefrom, are substantially spindle-shaped, juxtaposition of the dressed fish bodies on steaming baskets is so unstable that some deformation of the dressed fish bodies are unavoidable and the dressed fish bodies are no longer of like form. Because of this unequal form of the dressed fish bodies, the process following the heating process of the dressed fish bodies cannot be mechanized or automized and one must rely upon manual labors.
(3) As described in the foregoings, the dressed fish bodies of spindle-shaped form need considerable time for cooling them as well as for the process of heating and accordingly the fish bodies must be exposed to the atmosphere for a long time with the result that the surfaces thereof are apt to be oxidized and/or over dried and they are in some seasons in danger of contamination.